Sometime in the past few days the dirt fairy visited my house. A dirt fairy is a little like Tinkerbell, but instead of visiting Neverland he or she visits good boys and girls when they are not home and fills their planter boxes full of nice rich soil.

What motivates a dirt fairy? This was a mystery to be resolved. But where to start?

The planter box itself was a surprise. When son Dan visited in early December I mentioned that I was considering taking up several bricks from my patio and using them to construct a planter box. The following day Dan purchased the necessary supplies, including stones for drainage, and constructed a lovely 5’ x 2’ x 2’ planter box. My job was to stain the wood to match my deck.

Returning to the fairy mystery, I called Pilot, to whom I had subtly hinted that a load of dirt/compost mix from the county composting site would be nice. Subtle, hah! I just came right out and asked, not once but four or five times. Each time we discussed logistics and came to the same non-conclusion. How does your schedule look next week? Can we do this without scratching the truck?

When asked if he brought the soil, Pilot laughed and said the dirt elves brought it. He continued, “Dan must have contacted the elves and told them to bring the dirt.”

That response made me certain that he made the delivery intending it to be a birthday surprise. I called him sneaky. At that point Pilot pronounced that, seriously, it was not him.

My next guess was that my daughters sneaked the dirt into the box while I wasn’t looking. I called Linda and left a bubbly, grateful message. She organizes the family’s activities by telephone, but didn’t return my call.

Just as I was preparing to telephone her twin, Sarah, my phone tang.
“It was us, Mom” Linda said. “We were planning to surprise you for your birthday. You usually walk around oblivious to what is happening around you; so we thought we could pull it off.”

They know this from experience. One time they changed my kitchen faucets and I didn’t notice until four days later – – after they told me what they had done.

This time I have the satisfaction of knowing that I found a “secret” before they told me where to look. Mom still has it going on upstairs, at least sometimes.